As a child, Leonardo was always outdoors studying birds and plants. He found out that the best way to learn about something was to observe it carefully.
Take a walk to a nearby park or favorite place in nature and look for signs of animal life—birds’ nests, anthills, cocoons, spiderwebs, animal tracks, and even dead bugs. Notice the different types of plants and trees and look closely at their bark, leaves, flowers, and seeds.
Observe the different colors, shapes, and textures all around you. When you find something that interests you, sit down with it a while and sketch it. Don’t worry if you can’t draw very well because this notebook is just for you.
Try making a bark rubbing by placing a piece of paper over the bark of a tree and rubbing over the paper with a crayon or chalk to pick up the pattern of the bark. Collect a leaf and seed from that tree. Do the same for other trees. Do the bark patterns differ? How many different shapes of leaves can you find?
Be as quiet as you can and listen attentively. Notice all the differ- ent sounds you hear. Do you hear birds, squirrels, planes, cars, running water, and your own breath? Use your tape recorder to record these sounds. Write down the time of day and all the sounds you hear in your notebook.
Collect interesting things you find like rocks, shells, leaves, flowers, and dead bugs. Place them in your bag or box. You might want to press your flowers under some heavy books and then glue them in your notebook. Later you will be able to study these things and use them in a still-life painting, collage, or other work of art as Leonardo did.
When Leonardo became a military engineer for Cesare Borgia he created many maps. Mapmakers are also called “cartographers.” Leonardo was one of the first cartographers to draw maps from a vista d’uccello, a bird’s-eye view.
Leonardo liked to test his perceptions by guessing distances and heights. When he was walking he would pick an object in the distance and estimate the number of paces it would take to walk to it. He tried to guess the heights of buildings and trees. It was good practice for painting and mapmaking.
The 4th graders have adopted a member of the United States Air Force who is stationed in Okinawa, Japan. Meet Tony Bird! He is the father of 4 pretty cool kids, an avid reader of books, and an author! His talents also include playing the ukelele and the harmonica, as well as acting in plays! His unit of 19 has a 3-day cycle of Mission Plan, fly for an 18 hour work day, then a day off. His family lives here locally, and he visits when he can. It will take about 2 weeks for our letters/care package to reach Tony's unit in Japan, and then we can look forward to hearing back! While we're at it, we can learn about Asia and explore that part of the world!
Here are some items that Tony & his unit would love to find in care packages from home!Snacks - Candy - Paperback Books (they can't take their iDevices or Kindles on missions) - Crosswords - Sudoku - Any other games/activities like the crosswords - Sauces or Seasonings to make the food taste better! - The little packets of flavor for bottled water - Hand warmers (Since it is hot on the ground but really cold up in the planes!) - Anything else that we'd like to send would be awesomely appreciated!